Sometimes
the greatest inventions are those which simplify necessary tasks. Such
is the case with Jan Matzeliger - the man who made it possible for ordinary
citizens to purchase shoes.

Jan Matzeliger
was born in Dutch Guiana (now known as Surinam) in South America. His father
was a Dutch engineer and his mother was born in Dutch Guiana and was of
African ancestry. His father had been sent to Surinam by the Dutch
government to oversee the work going on in the South American country.

At an early
age, Jan showed a remarkable ability to repair complex machinery and often
did so when accompanying his father to a factory. When he turned 19, he
decided to venture away from home to explore other parts of the world.
For two years he worked aboard an East Indian merchant ship and was able
to visit several countries. In 1873, Jan decided to stay in the United
States for a while, landing in Pennsylvania. Although he spoke very little
English, he was befriended by some Black residents who were active in a
local church and took pity on him. Because he was good with his hands and
mechanically inclined, he was able to get small jobs in order to earn a
living.

At some point
he began working for a cobbler and became interested in the making
of shoes. At that
time more than half of the shoes produced in the United
States came from the small town of Lynn, Massachusetts. Still unable to
speak more than rudimentary English, Matzeliger had a difficult
time finding work in Lynn. After considerable time, he was able to begin
working as a show apprentice in a shoe factory. He operated a McKay sole-sewing
machine which was used to attached different parts of a shoe together.
Unfortunately, no machines existed that could attach the upper part of
a shoe to the sole. As such, attaching the upper part of a shoe to the
sole had to be done by hand. The people who were able to sew the parts
of the shoe together were called "hand lasters" and expert ones were able
to produce about 50 pairs of shoes in a 10 hour work day. They were held
in high esteem and were able to charge a high price for their services,
especially after they banded together and formed a union called the Company
of Shoemakers. Because the hand lasters were able to charge so much money,
a pair of shoes was very expensive to purchase. Hand lasters were confident
that they would continue to be able to demand high sums of money for their
services saying "... no matter if the sewing machine is a wonderful
machine. No man can build a machine that will last shoes and take away
the job of the laster, unless he can make a machine that has fingers like
a laster - and that is impossible." Jan Matzeliger decided they were
wrong.

After
working all day Matzeliger took classes at night to learn English. Soon,
he was able to read well enough to study books on physics and mechanical
science. This enabled him to a number of inventions. Lacking sufficient
money, he was unable to patent these inventions and watched helplessly
as other people claimed to have created the devises and received the financial
rewards they brought. Matzeliger did not despair over these situations
because he was already thinking of a more important invention - the
shoe laster.

Watching hand
lasters all day, Matzeliger began understanding how they were able to join
the upper parts of a shoe to the sole. At night he sat devising methods
for imitating the mannerisms of the hand lasters and sketched out rough
drawings of a machine that might work in the same manner.

Soon,
Matzeliger began putting together a crude working model of his invention.
Lacking the proper materials, he used whatever scraps he could find, including
cigar boxes, discarded pieces of wood, scrap wire, nails and paper. After
six months, he felt he was on the right track but knew he needed better
materials in order to take the next steps.

Although he
attempted to keep his invention a secret, people found out, including the
expert hand lasters he was trying to "compete" with. These people criticized
and ridiculed him and tried to dissuade him pursuing his goal. He considered
on, however, and decided to try to raise money in order to improve his
working model. He was offered $50.00 to sell the device he had created
up to that point but turned it down, knowing that if people were interested
in buying, he was on the right track.

As
he improved the device, other offers of money came in, some as high as
$1,500.00. Matzeliger could not bear to part with the device he had put
so much work into creating so he held out until he reached a deal to sell
a 66% interest in the devices to two investors, retaining the other third
interest for himself. With the new influx of cash, Jan finished his second
and third models of the machine. At this point he applied for a patent
for the device.

Because
no one could believe that anyone could create a machine which could duplicate
the work of expert lasters, the patent office dispatched a representative
to Lynn, Massachusetts to see the device in action. In March 1883, the
United States Patent Office issued a patent to Jan Matzeliger for his "Lasting
Machine." Within two years, Matzeliger had perfected the machine to that
point that it could produce up to 700 pairs of shoes each day (as compared
to 50 per day for a hand laster.)

Sadly, Matzeliger
would only enjoy his success for a short time, as he was afflicted with
tuberculosis in 1886 and died on August 24, 1889 at the age of 37. As a
result of his work, shoe manufacturing capabilities increased as did efficiency.
This allowed for lower prices for consumers and more jobs for workers.
Matzeliger left behind a legacy of tackling what was thought to be an impossible
task - making shoes affordable for the masses.